A Virginia man was convicted earlier this week in the death of a 2-year-old who died during a 2011 exorcism. Eder Guzman-Rodriguez beat his daughter Jocelyn to death in an attempt to rid her of the demon he believed was inside her.

Police summoned to the scene encountered several people holding Bibles outside the home, where Guzman-Rodriguez stated that he had also become possessed by a “bad spirit” when he punched and choked Jocelyn to death. The girl was found on a bed, wrapped in a blanket surrounded by Bibles.

Easton plans to seize numerous properties owned by the Rock Church on Fifth Street in order to collect on $30,000 to $40,000 in back taxes and water bills.

That’s according to the Morning Call, which interviewed city officials who say they are tired of battling the church over its bills and zoning violations at its properties.

Churches get big tax breaks that no other entity automatically qualifies for. Apparently even those greatly reduced financial obligations are too much for the church to pay without claiming it is being unfairly targeted.

In a follow-up story, church attorney Kevin Santos accused the city of “picking a fight” over a church property at 509-511 Northampton St., and said that the cost of fixing the remains of that building has made it impossible to pay taxes and utility bills.

The church — through a subsidiary — owns numerous properties in the neighborhood, including the Hooper House at 501 Northampton St.

That building is believed to be the oldest residence in Easton, but has been vacant since 1979, when the church bought it. In the summer of 2011, the city put it on its list of blighted properties.

…the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for seven, nine or nineteen years … before the Day of Judgment … and will rid the world of evil.

Well, he was here, and you missed him. (I guess it’s true that, in the words of Joni Mitchell, “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.”) Meet Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi, a Pakistani mystic also known as Sultan ul Salateen ul Fuqra Imam Mehdi. He met Jesus in 1997, then disappeared in 2001 (some say he’s serving a life sentence in a British jail).

How do we know Shahi is the Messiah?

Because he is literally the man in the moon, his followers say. See for yourself:

It’s hard for believers to distinguish fantasy from reality. So a rabbi who thinks he can impersonate God or a cop at will — it just makes sense, I guess. Probably a case of You will respect my authori-tah!

The 26-year-old Scarsdale man told The Journal News that Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski, the Rabbi of Congregation Sulam Yaakov in Larchmont, pulled a badge on him and a friend after an incident on I-87 near the Bronx-Yonkers border.

The man claims that Borodowski pulled the badge and demanded that he pull over after he swerved into the Rabbi’s lane. …

He said that a passenger recorded the incident and turned the video over to authorities.

Borodowski has apparently been committing this felonious behavior for a while now.

Earlier this month a woman accused Borodowski of exploding in a road rage incident on Mamaroneck Avenue.

“The man was acting extremely aggressively and started shouting out his car window at her,” her attorney Richard Clifford said.

The woman said she was driving 20 mph — the posted speed limit in the school zone. The rabbi allegedly got mad at her slow speed and then is accused of flashing a fake police badge. … [Police] arrested the rabbi and charged him with criminal impersonation.

A public school teacher in Newark has agreed to the revocation of his teaching certificates over allegations that he repeatedly groped teenage boys in the 1970s and 1980s, when he was engaged in active ministry as a Roman Catholic priest.

The Rev. John Capparelli reached a settlement with the State Board of Examiners, the body that regulates teachers, ahead of a scheduled hearing before an administrative law judge earlier this month. The revocation takes effect today.

Authorities have charged a South Carolina woman with felony animal cruelty, saying she hanged her nephew’s [one-year-old] pit bull from a tree with an electrical cord and burned its body because the dog chewed on her Bible.

Animal control officers said Monday that 65-year-old Miriam Smith told them she killed a female dog named Diamond because it was a “devil dog” and she worried it could harm neighborhood children. …

Authorities say the remains of the dog were found under a pile of grass with part of an electrical cord around its neck.

It wouldn’t be nice to fantasize about strangling Smith with an electrical cord while angry dogs tear at her flesh, would it? No sirree Bob, it sure wouldn’t.

NOTE: Moral Compass is a compendium of religious wickedness. All alleged violators mentioned in our posts are innocent until proven guilty in court.

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PAINE AND JEFFERSON ON RELIGION:

"It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief that mental lying has produced in society. When man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime." — Thomas Paine

"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." — Thomas Jefferson